The Giant Lip Plate

          THE GIANT LIP PLATE

The giant lip plate is distinctive clay discs inserted into the bottom hole of the lip. They have their lip cut at the age of 15 or 16, 2 – 3 lower front teeth has to be pulled out and then a small wooden plug is inserted, this plug is replaced by a larger one until the lip is stretched enough to hold the clay disc. As the years goes on the lip increases as larger plates are inserted into the lip, when these plates are removed the lip hangs like a rope.

 The Surma people are made up of Suri tribe and Mursi tribe; they live in the southwestern plains of Ethiopia. The Surma women always shave their hair, they intricate the scarification patterns on their skin and also wear the lip plate as a sign of beauty which increases the price of a woman when she is ready to be married; the lip plate is also used as expression of value of female strength and self esteem. The most beautiful woman gets up to 20 cows. The bigger the lips plate the better the wife.
You might wonder how they eat with the lip plate in their lip.

Well the women don’t wear the lip plate all the time, they usually put them on when serving their men and mostly for ceremonies. They eat without the plate. Some of their women who happen to leave the village to an advanced area claim people often mock them because of their hanging lip. According to research the lip plate was banned by the Ethiopian Government.